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Brian Barrett
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1 Discussion Guide - Book 1 SamanthaGreenMysteries.com

2 A NOTE FROM Christy Lynn Allen AUTHOR, SAMANTHA GREEN MYSTERIES Hi Serious Reader, Wow! This club knows how to choose a book! I could practically feel my tricky mind bending around the time travel concepts in this story. This guide contains activities and questions to help before/during/after your reading. Have fun! RATE THIS BOOK & SHARE COMMENTS X WITH OTHER SERIOUS READERS: SamanthaGreenMysteries.com/SRC X

Detective work c Sharp sleuthing skills are a must for this mystery! Miranda finds four mysterious not es. Keep track of key clues here, and refer back as you read.

3 Detective work c Sharp sleuthing skills are a must for this mystery! Miranda finds four mysterious not es. Keep track of key clues here, and refer back as you read. The First Note When does Miranda find it? Where does she discover it? What does the note writer claim to be coming to do? What two favors are asked of Miranda? Other interesting details: The SECOND Note When does Miranda find it? Where does she discover it? What does the note writer say Miranda s letter must do? When does she have to start the letter, and why? What is she asked not to do? Other details:

4 Detective work c The THIRD Note When does Miranda find it? Where does she discover it? What three things are offered to Miranda as proof? What odd fact is provided in the P.S.? Do you remember this subject being mentioned before by Miranda? When? The LAST Note When does Miranda find it? Where does she discover it? What instructions are given to Miranda? Where is she told to deliver her letter? What other clues are included at the end of the note?

5 People Aren t Always... What They Seem Many characters in this book seem to be one way at first, but turn out to be completely different by the end. Track the characters below through the book and watch how they change! Character How is this character described when first introduced? How does he/she act? What unexpected qualities does the character show later in the story? By the end, how would you describe this character? The Laughing Man (AKA uacker and Kicker ) Julia ( Swiss Miss ) Marcus ( the boy in the green army coat )

6 Discussion uestions This book is the kind I call CHEWY. You know, the kind of book that gives your mind a lot to chew on, to think about, to digest? (My favorite kind!) BONUS! For those of you who (as Miranda says) like to lift the veil, check out the journaling ideas at the end! 1. Have you read a book that is narrated out of order before? Many stories are told in order of when things happened (chronological order), but this one flips around in time. What clues helped you understand the story was being told out of order? Why do you think the author wrote the story this way? (Hint: Did it feel like you were traveling back and forth in time?) 2. Remember this line from the first chapter? And then there s the date she s supposed to show up, scrawled in blue pen on a line at the bottom of the card: April 27, Just like you said. Who is Miranda talking to as she tells this story? When did you first figure out she wasn t talking to you, the reader?

7 Discussion uestions 3. Miranda is obsessed with a particular book, which she reads over and over again. What is the book? Why do you think she so fascinated with it? 4. Except those ladies lied, at the beginning of the book...they promise that girl that they ll have her back home five minutes before she left. But they don t. How does Miranda feel when Marcus says this about her book at the dentist s? Marcus goes on to explain that if the characters in A Wrinkle of Time had really gotten back 5 minutes before they left, then they would have seen themselves return from the future. How does Miranda react? What do you think? Do you see what Marcus is saying? 5. When Sal doesn t want to hang out with Miranda anymore, she makes friends with Annemarie. After seeing Annemarie s home, Miranda notices her apartment as if it s the first time. Why? What is she ashamed about?

8 Discussion uestions 6. Miranda s first memory of disliking Julia is from second grade, when Julia complained there was no café au lait -colored construction paper for her skin, or sixty-percent-cacao-chocolate color for her eyes. Later, however, Miranda watches Julia watching Annemarie, and sees eyes that were sixty-percent-cacao-chocolate, a face that was café au lait, and an expression so familiar... What changes Miranda s feelings toward Julia? What are some things she discovers she has in common with Julia? 7. At the sandwich shop, after Jimmy s bank of $2 bills is stolen, Miranda learns that Jimmy has misinterpreted her nickname for Julia ( Swiss Miss ). Why does Jimmy throw Julia out of his shop? Have you ever been blamed for something simply because of your appearance? Have you seen this happen to others?

9 Discussion uestions 8. Marcus tells Miranda that Einstein says common sense is just habit of thought. It s how we re used to thinking about things, but a lot of the time it just gets in the way. How does Miranda s habit of thinking get in the way of noticing Sal s desire to take a break from their friendship? Why doesn t she pick up on his hints? What does Sal understand before Miranda does? 9. After Miranda finds the third note, she talks to Marcus about time travel. Marcus says if it takes her 50 years to build a time machine, and she doesn t time travel back to 1978 until she s 62, the ticket guy at the movie theater would remember a 62 year old woman, not Miranda as she looks now. How is this important in helping Miranda figure things out in the end? 10. Watching her mom compete in The $20,000 Pyramid game show, Miranda experiences something like an invisible hand reaching out and snatching away [her] veil. What happens? Have you ever experienced this, when everything becomes clear?

10 G Journal Ideas Miranda s mom says that people can learn to lift the veil themselves. Journaling is one way to do this, to explore how we feel & see the big picture. Rebecca Stead s novel challenges us with many BIG ideas. Read the quotations below and write what comes to mind in your journal. Or, write about some big questions you have of your own. Time isn t a line stretching out in front of us going one direction...time is just a construct... G Think about Julia s metaphor of time as a ring with diamonds around it. Every diamond represents a moment in time. All the moments are happening at the same time, and it is we who are moving, from one moment to another. A lot of people make bad mistakes. But being in jail can make them feel like a mistake is all they are. Like they aren t even people anymore. G Think about yourself. You have many wonderful qualities, and maybe a few that get you into trouble from time to time. What would it feel like to be judged for one big mistake, labeled as a bad person for the rest of your life? After a while, would it be hard to see yourself as anything more than your mistake? I pictured the world...humans...looking almost all alike. There are tiny differences in color, the shape of the face, the tone of the skin. But basically they are the same. They create shelters, grow food, experiment. They talk; they write things down... There are humans all over the place, driving in cars and flying in airplanes. And then one day one human tells another human that he doesn t want to walk to school with her anymore. Does it really matter? I asked myself. It did. G The world is a big place, but your experience in it is real, and it matters. What problems do you struggle with that may not seem like a big deal to others? Kids are walking down street toward school. One kid has green suede boots. One has a charge account at Gold s. One has keys in her pocket. Does it really matter? I asked myself. It did. What makes you different from others? How does it feel to have more or less than others?

Superstar Teacher Resources

Superstar Teacher Resources Created by Mandy Davis (the author) and Debby Davis (a master teacher and the author s mom) Start with a short Book Talk and get your students excited about reading Superstar!